communities, taking lives, and injuring too many people for much too long across america. as president obama invoked in his state of the union speech last night, the families grieving from losing loved ones, from gun violence, deserve a vote. in fact, though, we are saying they deserve more than a vote. they deserve concrete steps to reduce gun violence, and we can take those steps right here in congress. . not one in newtown, not one in chicago, cleveland, not one in my district in oakland, california. not one in any town, any city, any school, any theater or anyplace of worship, mall or neighborhood. we have an obligation to our children to ensure and we must come together to build and america where our children don't have to live in fear and where they really believe that they have a future. many of my young people in my district don't even think they have a future. and this is a very sad state of affairs that we've got to turn around. recently i had an event in my district in west oakland. it was the unveiling of a measurial painted by several -- murial painted any several townspeople. i
